The Lazy Days of Summer 1: Beach Themed

Hi there~

I decided that I'm going to do a summer challenge. And because I liked the open timeframe from my last challenge, I decided on the so-called Lazy Days of Summer challenge, actually created my the same ladies that created the Spring Challenge. I just hope I'll be able to complete it faster than the Spring Challenge, hehe.

Here's a chart of the different themes I'll be working on in the next few weeks.

Well, today I want to show you my first mani for this challenge, supposedly be beach themed. I'm not a hundred percent happy with it. Mostly because I had this idea, but I just wouldn't work out on my nubbins anymore. I downgraded it a lot, placing only one real shell on my nails. Maybe I'll try again, when my nails are back to "normal".

When I think of the beach, I think of shells. I used to collect bags full of all kinds of shells with my sisters when we were kids. I wonder if they are still around at home... So that's basically where my idea came from.

My base for this mani is a franken I made from clear polish, a white polish with subtle shimmer and some of my Zoeva eyeshadow pigments. I'm not doing a lot of extensive eye make-ups lately, so I put them to better use that way. On top of two coats of that unnamed franken, I dabbed a blue holographic polish I won in a giveaway last year. It's by a Japanese company and apparently discontinued.

Next, I took out the crushed shells I bought a few weeks ago. I had bought blue and natural ones. I placed the blue shells on top of the holo and a few natural colored ones near the bottom. Next, I applied a generous coat of essence BTGN Top Sealer to "glue" all of that together and added a few rhinestones and half pears while it was still wet.

On my thumb, I also added a mini shell. It was really pointy and I removed it before going to work. I think it would have been too dangerous, hehe. I had planned to use more of them and bigger half pearls too, but it looked really awkward on my tiny nails. I think it's still too big on my thumb...

And because I actually wanted to capture my franken on its own...

What do you think?

And I'm sooo getting myself a lightbox...

Please take a look at what the other wonderful ladies have been doing so far:

Victoria @ Manicurator

Alyson @ BEADS. NAILS. FOOD.

Mandy @ Mandy's Polish

Hannah @ Polished Prisms

Sue @ Creative Nail Design by Sue

Katee @ A Girl and Her Polish

Charlotte-Louise @ Charlotte's Nails

Karine @ Karinea0a

Jen @ The Polished Zombie

Jessica @ Jessica's Nail Tales

Ashley @ One Nail to Another 

Pryanka @ Nail Sparks*

Anna @ Polished Cousins

Maribeth @ Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite!

Sharra @ The Blahg

Stephanie @ A Little Polish

Amanda @ Counting Down to Bliss

Jess @ NearlyNaturalNails 

Heidi @ DIY Polish 

Becky @ Glamfiend

Spring Challenge 14: Retro Roses

Hi everyone~

Today I want to show you my last design for the Spring Challenge! The *final* one! Yay~

Well, this one was probably the easiest design. Not because it was easy to paint, but because I knew what I wanted to do for weeks. I saw these retro designs in nail magazines this spring and really wanted to do one. So why not do one for the freestyle design No. 14!?

I started out with Kiko 389 Mint Milk as my base color. Mint Milk is a gorgeous light turquoise creme and I understand very well why so many other polish enthusiasts love this polish. It's opaque in two coats and applies like a dream. It also dries to a very glossy finish.

When my base was dry, I painted the white stripes using an essence tip painter. I had almost forgotten about my tip painters... they are actually quite handy at times, haha. Afterwards, I picked another Kiko polish, 377 Apple Blossom. It's a dusty rose creme that appears to be a bit more sheer than Mint Milk. I haven't worn it solo yet. I just dabbed it onto my nails randomly. Next, I picked the only elf polish in my collection, unnamed it is, but a nice darkened pink that looked great with Apple Blossom. I used this one and a dotting tool to paint the roses. It's just half moon shapes going from the center of the blossom to the outside.

Lastly, for the leaves I used essence A Hint of Mint (lots of Mint going on...) and OPI Jade is the new Black. Using the very same dotting tool, I added little triangles where I wanted my leaves. One coat of essence BTGN Top Sealer to make it all glossy and it was done.

I finished the design about half an hour before I went to work and took my pictures when I came back. That's why there is a bit of tipwear. I loved this design and wore it for a week straight! I only took it off, because my left hand nails decided to break. I'm still very sad about that. I just did my nails again and there's so little space to paint on! I guess I have to change my plans for the Summer Challenge a bit. Oh well.

That's it for the Spring Challenge! I was doing this about 6 weeks longer than I had anticipated, but I'm glad I pulled through. I didn't want to give up, hehe. I'm planning on continuing with the Summer challenge created by the lovely ladies that did the Spring Challenge with me. There are some great themes to do!

What do you think of my final Spring design? Have you used any of these Kiko polishes?

Priti NYC - Queen Victoria (Swatch)

Hi everyone~

I hope everyone is doing great today! I know it's a special day for a lot of people overseas, so I hope you're having fun today!

Well, no america-themed mani from me, but I'd love to show you a polish I bought a while ago, when the brand was on sale at Zalando. The brand is usually a bit too pricy for my taste, but should it be on sale again I'd definitely consider buying a few more shades. My experience with Priti NYC has been quite good so far.

The polish I want to show you is called Queen Victoria and as far as I know it's from their core line of polishes. The brand is doing so many limited editions, it's kind of hard to track them all ^^;

Queen Victoria is a gorgeous red jelly polish packed with pink and gold micro glitter. It looks very juicy! When I first wore this polish, it wasn't exactly the time for strawberries yet, but it made me crave some. Doesn't it look like fresh made strawberry jam!?

This is two coats and it could have used a third to erase every last trace of visible nail line. I'm not *that* picky about a hint of visible nail line though. The first coat goes on a bit streaky and very pink tinted, but with the second coat it's definitely red.

 

I got a lot of compliments when I wore Queen Victoria. I didn't even do any nail art, but people still kept commenting. I rarely wear red, but this one is awesome. It might even be my favorite red. I'm wearing it on my toes right now~ It's definitely an eyecatcher!

Drying time is nothing special, not very fast, but not exactly slow either. It dries very glossy, but I love the extra shine my beloved essence BTGN Top Sealer adds, so one coat of that.

Lastly, a bottle shot to show you the micro glitter suspended in the red jelly base.

I love this polish... I'm so glad I got it, even though it took me forever to finally wear it.

On a sidenote... I really like my nails on these pictures. I'm sad right now. Two of my left hand nails broke yesterday and I'm back to total nubbins. I don't remember when my nails where so short that there's no visible nail line... must have been ages ago. I hate the look. ;-(

Grow, nails, grow! Faster!

Spring Challenge 13: The Paper Gal (Newspaper Transfer)

I really don't know what's going on lately, but bad things keep happening again. First, my notebook died on me, so I had to get myself a new one. A day later I was diagnosed with a dead tooth thanks to the dental braces I wore until about a year ago. More money gone. And friday my router died too, so I had a weekend with no internet. That was probably the worst. I'm using an old one for now, but it's not working properly, so I'll probably have to spend some more money to get myself a new router. Just why are those things always happening at the same time!?

Well, I used my offline time to work on the many pictures that are still sitting in my blog folder. So today, I present my take on the 13th take of the Spring Challenge. The theme was pretty open. It just had to include a newspaper transfer.

I didn't really think this one would be a problem, because I have done newspaper transfers before and it worked just fine. Not this time though. Just like a lot of other participants in this challenge I was sitting on this mani for hours, trying to make the transfer work.

I had seen a mani before that looked pretty similar to what I did here, but it was some kind of lace sticker. When I saw it, I had the idea to do a use newspaper here instead of the the patterned lace sticker. In theory not even a difficult design. In theory...

I started with two coats of Color Club Little Miss Paris. Then, I taped off a chevron, to create the french using Kleancolor Holo Pink. When that was dry, my misery began. The plan was cutting thin lines from a newspaper and transfering it along the french edges. But it wouldn't work. I tried different alcohols (rubbing + vodka), all kinds of newspaper, dipping the newspaper in the alcohol, dipping my nail into the alcohol and then putting the newspaper on my nails. All I did was smudge the pink polish.

I noticed that the newspaper would only transfer slightly on the pink holo, so I started to wonder if my nail polish may be too smooth!? Then, I had an idea that proved successful at last. When essence changed their range of goods this spring, they started selling a base coat called studio nails 24/7 nail base. The interesting thing about this base coat is the fact that it is drying to a velvety finish providing grip to any nail polish. So along the inner edge of my french, I applied a thin stripe of this basecoat... on top of Little Miss Paris, let that dry and then tried to transfer my newspaper again.

...and it worked! Still not as well as the last time, but something was finally happening. After I had transfered newspaper to all ten nails, I painted the white lace design around it and finished the whole thing with a generous layer of my favorite BTGN Top Sealer. I placed a few rhinestones while it was drying.

I'm a bit embarassed about my lace design.... and how it is inconsistent. But I have to admit that I was so fed up with painting my nails when I finally got to the stage of painting the lace. The transfer on my right hand turned out a bit better in my opinion, so here's a rare picture of my right hand. The design looks better on the longer nails on my left hand, but you can tell that there's a newspaper transfer on my right.

I think in about a week I can finally take of the annoying gel on my left hand and cut them down. I can now see the broken edge from underneath. Yay. I'm still surprised that I didn't experience any liftings...

One more design and it's time for a few summery designs~ Still waiting for the summer to arrive here though... :(